


Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)

by OneOfThoseCrazyGirls



Series: What Should’ve Been [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Established Relationship, F/M, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 19:05:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17048876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneOfThoseCrazyGirls/pseuds/OneOfThoseCrazyGirls
Summary: A sequel to “Swear This One You’ll Save”This fic is part of the What Should’ve Been ‘verse.





	Have Your Cake (And Eat It Too)

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been re-watching Arrow and after watching season 4, I wrote a one-shot of what I thought Felicity might’ve been feeling about Oliver frequently visiting Central City (unknowingly to her, to visit William).
> 
> And then A_Wells left a very lovely comment and gave me an idea to write a continuation of that one-shot.
> 
> So here’s the sequel to “Swear This One You’ll Save”. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Title comes from the phrase “you can have your cake and eat it too”

Oliver set his duffel bag on the bed and began packing an overnight bag for his weekend trip to Central City. He knew that lying to Felicity was wrong and the guilt actually kept him up at night, but he just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to know William—even if William didn’t know that Oliver was his father—Oliver had lived without his own father for so long, he didn’t want his son to know that pain too.

Once Oliver’s bag was completely packed he checked his watch to make sure he was still running on time—surprisingly, he was—and then he headed downstairs to say goodbye to Felicity.

“Hey.” Oliver greeted her as he came down the stairs. “So I have another meeting with that political advisor. I should be back Sunday morning or afternoon.”

“Yeah.” Felicity muttered without looking at him.

Oliver paused before opening the front door and turned to look back at her. “Are you okay?” He asked.

“I’m fine.” Felicity once again muttered without looking at him.

“Are you sure? Because you don’t seem fine.” Oliver stepped away from the front door and took a few steps closer to her.

“Yeah. I’m great. Have a good time in Central City... _again_.”

The way she said the last word caught Oliver’s attention and he went over to kneel down in front of her, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” He asked gently placing his hand on her knee before remembering that she wouldn’t be able to feel it and moving his hand to her arm instead. “Talk to me.”

“Nothing.” She replied tersely. She was looking into his eyes when she said it, but then she quickly averted her gaze. Oliver didn’t want to admit that her reply was trying his patience.

“Felicity, something is clearly wrong and I want to know what it is.” He gently prodded.

Felicity kept quiet and continued to avert her eyes and not meet his gaze. She also began twisting her fingers in her lap.

Several moments of silence passed between them but it was suddenly broken by the sound of an alarm going off on Oliver’s phone. He had set that alarm to make sure he left for the train station on time.

“It’s that!” Felicity blurted out suddenly as Oliver reached into his pocket to silence his phone.

“Your problem is with my phone?” Oliver asked.

“Wha—no!” Felicity pulled herself away from him and headed in the direction of the kitchen, but stopped before she reached it. “It’s all these weekend trips to Central City. You never tell me why you keep taking them.”

“Yes I do. I have to meet wi—“ Oliver began, but Felicity cut him off.

“Meet with a political advisor. Yeah I know. Except, don’t you have a campaign manager. What’s his name...Alex? And Thea. Aren’t they supposed to be your political advisors?”

“Th—This guy in Central City is a specialist.” Oliver replied, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Felicity just tilted her head and gave him that “really?” look. It was the same look she gave him the very first time they met and he gave her his “I spilled a latte on it” excuse.

“Really? So what’s his name then?”

The question caused Oliver to freeze...he couldn’t easily talk his way out of that one.

“What?” He asked.

“This political advisor that’s apparently so good he’s worth a 600 mile trip to Central City for...I want to know his name. I wanna look him up and see if he’s really the real deal.”

Oliver’s mind went completely blank. Without thinking, he felt his forefinger and thumb begin to rub together...itching to just run away from this conversation.

He could if he really wanted to. He did still have his train to catch. He could easily just tell her to drop it and walk out the door.

But he wouldn’t do that. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he always knew this discussion was coming, but now that it was actually here, he was completely at a loss for what to do. But he wouldn’t just walk away...this was too important. Oliver had this feeling, deep down in his gut, that if he walked away from this now he would lose Felicity. So he stayed, but he still didn’t know how to respond to her question. So they just stared at each other in silence for several agonizingly long moments until Felicity suddenly blurted out...

“Are you seeing someone...in Central City?”

The blow from the implications of that question actually caused him to physically take a step back to keep himself from collapsing. She actually thought...he was _cheating_ on her?

A million thoughts raced through Oliver’s mind.

“Felicity...” Oliver breathed out. It was the only thing he could bring himself to say.

“Answer me. I wanna know.”

Eventually, Oliver managed to clear his mind to one single thought, “How could you possibly think that I would cheat on you?”

Felicity huffed out a bitter laugh. “Is it really so crazy? It’s not like you’ve never cheated on a girlfriend before.”

“I’m not that person anymore. You know that.”

“All I know, Oliver, is that I’m in a wheelchair. I can’t go up and down the stairs by myself, I can’t reach the cabinets in the kitchen by myself...we don’t...have sex anymore. Maybe old habits die hard.”

Oliver stood in shock for a few moments before he was finally able to reply. “Felicity, we talked about this in the hospital after we found out about the paralysis. I gave you your ring back and I told you I would always stand by you.”

“That was then. You said that when I was lying in a hospital, vulnerable, after we had survived a horrific attack. But now? All I’m saying is that maybe you thought you would be okay with it, but then you realized the reality of taking care of someone with paralysis was harder than you thought. I mean, I’m not trying to justify why you would cheat on me or say that I’m okay with it, I’m just saying I could understand it.”

“Felicity, I’m not cheating on you!”

“Then why are you spending so much time in Central City? I know you’re not helping Barry because, one, he told me the last time you used that excuse that he didn’t even know you were in town and, two, no offense but I don’t think Barry needs that much help from you anyway. Meta-humans aren’t really your thing.”

Ignoring her statement about Barry because he knew there was no point in addressing that, Oliver thought about her question. He made a promise to Samantha, a promise he couldn’t break without losing his relationship with William. But he also made a promise to Felicity when he proposed to her.

“I can’t tell you why I’ve been spending so much time in Central City.”

“Why not?” Felicity asked without skipping a beat.

“I made a promise to someone.”

“Who?”

Oliver swallowed the lump he felt forming in his throat. “I can’t tell you that either.” Oliver desperately tried to ignore the tears he saw well up in Felicity’s eyes.

For the first time since this argument began, Felicity averted her gaze and instead looked at the floor. Eventually, she sighed and then turned away from him, directing her chair towards the couch.

“You should leave. You might’ve missed your train, but you can still catch another one.”

“Felicity...” Oliver softly called out to her, but she kept her back turned to him.

“Go Oliver.”

Oliver continued to stare at her back for several more minutes, but she didn’t say anything further. Eventually, Oliver realized this conversation was over so he turned around and opened the front door, but just as he was stepping through, he heard Felicity call his name.

“Oliver...when you get back into town...you should stay with John and Lyla for a while, if they’ll let you. I’ll ask Thea to stay here with me.”

Oliver didn’t reply...he couldn’t think of anything to say, so instead he just closed the door behind him and headed for the train station.

On the train to Central City, Oliver made a decision. He knew that he couldn’t keep his promise to Samantha without losing Felicity so he spent the whole trip formulating a plan as to how he could prove to Samantha that he had changed and was worthy of being William’s father and then he could come back to Star City and finally tell Felicity the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I would really appreciate it if you left a comment and let me know what you think! And don’t forget to hit that kudos button! :)
> 
> Also, I have some ideas for possibly making this one-shot a multi-chapter canon divergence/fix-it fic (because I’m sure there aren’t enough of those) so if that’s something you might be interested in reading, let me know!
> 
> Find me on tumblr: oneofthosecrazygirls-fics


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